


The Love That You Deserve

by PhantomOfMusic (CaptainAmericasShield)



Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 06:35:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15358416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainAmericasShield/pseuds/PhantomOfMusic
Summary: Erik doesn't believe he deserves Christine's love. Christine wants to do everything she can to convince him otherwise. Title based on a line from the last bit of Love Never Dies.Just loveJust liveJust give what you can giveAnd take the love that you deserve





	1. Christine

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Phantom fanfic. Enjoy :)
> 
> Shoutout to pippa-writes for being my beta reader, I appreciate you :)

People assumed loving him was difficult. It wasn’t. Not for her. To her, he was a broken man who deserved love. Love that was never given to him. Love no one had ever shown him.

Christine did love him. She loved him more than he would ever know. His past didn’t allow him to recognize he could be loved.

Every night, he would tell her he didn’t deserve her. Every night, she would swear her love. Swear she would never leave, every night, he would nod and say he knew, every night, Christine could tell he would only say he knew so she wouldn’t worry about him.

It broke her heart to know he was filled with so much self-loathing he couldn’t understand that she did love him and would never leave.

She loved him selflessly, wholeheartedly and unconditionally. He stole her heart years ago, and she would never regret her decision to stay and marry him. Granted, their marriage had not been easy, but Christine was more than willing to do what she could to help her husband. She knew his story, and she understood how his lifetime of torment and abuse had affected him.

She was there for him, and he knew that. She was there for him through his night terrors, his anxiety attacks and his breakdowns when the weight of the world became too much for him to bear. She held him through his darkest times. She would trace his scars and whisper her love for him. She wanted to help him in any way she could. Sometimes, all she could do was hold him and comfort him. More often than not, that was enough for him. More often than not, all he needed was the feeling of her lying next to him. Sometimes, all he needed was to be able to hold her close and hear her affirmation that he was loved, that she wouldn’t leave him. Sometimes, all he needed was to talk. Christine was always willing to let him talk at her, without the fear of interruption, judgement or not being heard. His whole life had been full of judgement and ignorance. Christine wanted more than anything to help him heal, and give him an environment in which he could do so.

While her husband could come across as intimidating, he was much softer and much more open when it was just the two of them. When it was just them, he would hold her as if letting go would cause her to disappear. He kissed her as if each moment was their last. He was more passionate than anyone would ever believe. He loved her as if one blink would erase her from his life. She was his reason for living, he told her this every day. He told her the only two reasons he had for living were her and their son.

It broke her heart. It broke her heart knowing the world had been so cruel to him. She loved him with all of her heart, and nothing would change that. It broke her heart knowing he would never fully believe it. It broke her heart to know he had been so tortured and abused that he would never be able to truly believe that anyone could love him.

Christine loved Erik more than he would ever understand. She knew his past made him a broken man and he had more mental and emotional scars than anyone should ever have. She did everything she could and would do anything to help him begin to feel even somewhat whole again. In the end, he was her husband, her angel of music, and the love of her life, and she would love him until the day she died and beyond - she would prove that to him every damn day.


	2. Erik

He loved Christine. He loved Christine more than he felt he could express in mere words and gestures. She saved him. From the world, from the mob, and, most importantly, she saved him from himself. From his self loathing, from his own mind, and she showed him maybe, just maybe, he could be loved despite his abhorrent face. She looked at him in a way no one ever had. There was always a spark of kindness in her eyes, always a look of love.

Every morning, Erik woke with the fear she had woken up before him, decided she couldn’t love his face anymore and disappeared. Every day, he was amazed when he woke up and saw Christine still sleeping peacefully beside him. If Christine woke up before him, she would wake him up by gently tracing the scars on his marred face.

He couldn’t believe it. Even though they had been married for three years, he couldn’t believe that someone could love him, especially with his face; face that caused anyone who was unfortunate enough to see it to scream and run in fear, a face not even his own mother was able to bear.

Christine was perfect. He didn’t deserve her, he didn’t deserve her selfless love, he didn’t deserve to be with someone who treated him with kindness and respect. He knew he didn’t deserve the life he had, no one with his face did. 

He wasn’t sure how she had fallen in love with him, but she did somehow. She was his life, his guardian angel, and his saving grace. He didn’t know where he would be without her; likely still on the run, doing everything he could to remain hidden in the shadows, not that this was something he didn’t have experience with.

Christine had found him. He wasn’t sure how, and he wasn’t sure why she had even wanted to look for him. He knew he couldn’t give her the life she deserved. He knew she could never be happy with him. Somehow, she had managed to convince him otherwise. Somehow, she had convinced him she wanted to be with him.

As time went on, he started to believe her, though there would always be a part of him that would never truly believe that- the years of torment and abuse made sure of it. Years of running, and years of being forced to learn to defend himself against his abusers caused him to develop a personality he wasn’t proud of. Christine changed that. Christine changed him.

She showed him how to love, she showed him what it was like to be loved. She showed him compassion when no one else in his life had. She defended him when no one else would.

For the first time in his life, he was happy. For the first time in his life, he was loved. Christine made him feel as close to normal as one in his situation could ever feel. He had a wife, he had a son, he had a family, and that was all he could ever ask for.


End file.
